On Patience

Contents

1. 1Tertullian confesses that he, an impatient man, writes on patience as a sick man speaks of health; patience is necessary to every Christian virtue and is praised even by pagan philosophers.
2. 2The model of Christian patience is God himself, who bears with ungrateful and wicked humanity and gives his gifts to just and unjust alike.
3. 3Christ showed divine patience throughout his life, from his birth and baptism to his gentle ministry, his refusal of the sword at his arrest, and the insults of his passion.
4. 4Just as servants follow their master's character and even animals obey us, we ought to obey God, and obedience itself springs from patience.
5. 5Impatience was born in the devil, who could not bear God's favor to man; through it Eve and Adam sinned, Cain murdered, and Israel repeatedly rebelled; every sin springs from impatience.
6. 6Patience proved Abraham's faith; Christ, bringing faith to the nations, replaced the law's “eye for an eye” with patience, commanding love of enemies.
7. 7Christians should bear loss of property patiently, since nothing is truly theirs; patience in loss trains them to give freely, whereas pagans value money above the soul.
8. 8Christians should bear blows and insults patiently, as Christ commanded; patience blunts every injury, so that the one who inflicts it loses his aim and is himself the one who grieves.
9. 9Christians should not grieve impatiently for the dead, since, believing in the resurrection, they know that death is only a departure to Christ, whom they too will soon follow.
10. 10The desire for revenge is a chief form of impatience; it makes the one provoked as guilty as the provoker and usurps God's right to judge and avenge.
11. 11Whatever the source of our troubles, the devil, ourselves, or God's discipline, we must bear them patiently; the Beatitudes promise happiness to the patient.
12. 12Patience makes peace and forgiveness possible, waits for the repentance of sinners (even a separated spouse), and is the source of the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13.
13. 13Patience is also exercised in the body: in fasting and penance, as Nebuchadnezzar showed, in continence and celibacy, and above all in enduring persecution and martyrdom.
14. 14Isaiah, Stephen, and above all Job are models of patience; Job, stripped of everything, only thanked God and was restored double.
15. 15God rewards patience, which supports every virtue; Tertullian pictures Patience as a serene figure sitting on the throne of the gentle Holy Spirit, who cannot dwell in us without her.
16. 16Pagan “patience” in pursuit of money and pleasure is a devilish counterfeit; Christians should repay Christ's patience with patience of spirit and body, believing in the resurrection of both.